A new BBC documentary uncovers the 'world's longest snake' which is more than 17 feet long and lives deep in the Amazon jungle. Gordon Buchanan presents the three-part series called Tribes. We cover breaking stories from the mainstream and scientific media, user-submitted photos and videos, and feature articles and photos by Jeff Barringer, Richard Bartlett, and other herpetologists and herpetoculturists. Monday, January 4 2021. But is most closely related to the much better known Amazon River Turtles of the genus Podocnemis. Was the World's Largest Snake Captured in the Amazon? Fake news and fake photographs supposedly document the capture of a 134-foot-long anaconda caught after it had eaten 257 people and 2325.
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Candiru | |
---|---|
Vandellia cirrhosa | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Siluriformes |
Family: | Trichomycteridae |
Genus: | Vandellia |
Species: | |
Binomial name | |
Vandellia cirrhosa Valenciennes, 1846 |
Candiru (Vandellia cirrhosa), also known as cañero, toothpick fish, or vampire fish, is a species of parasitic freshwater catfish in the familyTrichomycteridae native to the Amazon Basin where it is found in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
The definition of candiru differs between authors. The word has been used to refer to only Vandellia cirrhosa, the entire genus Vandellia, the subfamily Vandelliinae, or even the two subfamilies Vandelliinae and Stegophilinae.[1][2][3][4]
Although some candiru species have been known to grow to a size of 40 centimetres (16 in) in length, others are considerably smaller. These smaller species are known for an alleged tendency to invade and parasitise the human urethra; however, despite ethnological reports dating back to the late 19th century,[5] the first documented case of the removal of a candiru from a human urethra did not occur until 1997, and even that incident has remained a matter of controversy.
Description
Candirus are small fish. Members of the genus Vandellia can reach up to 17 cm (7 in) in standard length,[6] but some others can grow to around 40 cm (16 in). Each has a rather small head and a belly that can appear distended, especially after a large blood meal. The body is translucent, making it quite difficult to spot in the turbid waters of its home. There are short sensory barbels around the head, together with short, backward pointing spines on the gill covers.[7]
Location and habitat
Candirus (Vandellia) inhabit the Amazon and Orinoco basins of lowland Amazonia, where they constitute part of the Neotropical fish fauna. Candirus are hematophagous and parasitize the gills of larger Amazonian fishes, especially catfish of the family Pimelodidae (Siluriformes).
Alleged attacks on humans
Although lurid anecdotes of attacks on humans abound, very few cases have been verified, and some alleged traits of the fish have been discredited as myth or superstition.
Historical accounts
The earliest published report of candiru attacking a human host comes from German biologist C. F. P. von Martius in 1829, who never actually observed it, but rather was told about it by the native people of the area, including that men would tie ligatures around their penises while going into the river to prevent this from happening. Other sources also suggest that other tribes in the area used various forms of protective coverings for their genitals while bathing, though it was also suggested that these were to prevent bites from piranha. Martius also speculated that the fish were attracted by the 'odor' of urine.[8] Later experimental evidence has shown this to be false, as the fish actually hunt by sight and have no attraction to urine at all.[9]
Another report from French naturalist Francis de Castelnau in 1855 relates an allegation by local Araguay fisherman, saying that it is dangerous to urinate in the river as the fish 'springs out of the water and penetrates into the urethra by ascending the length of the liquid column.'[10] While Castelnau himself dismissed this claim as 'absolutely preposterous,' and the fluid mechanics of such a maneuver defy the laws of physics, it remains one of the more stubborn myths about the candiru. It has been suggested this claim evolved out of the real observation that certain species of fish in the Amazon will gather at the surface near the point where a urine stream enters, having been attracted by the noise and agitation of the water.[11]
In 1836 Eduard Poeppig documented a statement by a local physician in Pará, known only as Dr. Lacerda, who offered an eyewitness account of a case where a candiru had entered a human orifice. However, it was lodged in a native woman's vagina, rather than a male urethra. He relates that the fish was extracted after external and internal application of the juice from a Xagua plant (believed to be a name for Genipa americana). Another account was documented by biologist George A. Boulenger from a Brazilian physician, named Dr. Bach, who had examined a man and several boys whose penises had been amputated. Bach believed this was a remedy performed because of parasitism by candiru, but he was merely speculating as he did not speak his patients' language.[12] American biologist Eugene Willis Gudger noted that the area which the patients were from did not have candiru in its rivers, and suggested the amputations were much more likely the result of having been attacked by piranha.[11]
In 1891, naturalist Paul Le Cointe provides a rare first-hand account of a candiru entering a human body, and like Lacerda's account, it involved the fish being lodged in the vaginal canal, not the urethra. Le Cointe actually removed the fish himself, by pushing it forward to disengage the spines, turning it around and removing it head-first.[13]
Gudger, in 1930, noted there have been several other cases reported wherein the fish entered the vaginal canal, but not a single case of a candiru entering the anus was ever documented. According to Gudger, this lends credence to the unlikelihood of the fish entering the male urethra, based on the comparatively small opening that would accommodate only the most immature members of the species.[11]
Modern cases
To date, there is only one documented case of a candiru entering a human urethra, which took place in Itacoatiara, Brazil, in 1997.[14][15] In this incident, the victim (a 23-year-old man known only as 'F.B.C.') claimed a candiru 'jumped' from the water into his urethra as he urinated while thigh-deep in a river.[16] After traveling to Manaus on October 28, 1997, the victim underwent a two-hour urological surgery by Dr. Anoar Samad to remove the fish from his body.[15]
In 1999, American marine biologist Stephen Spotte traveled to Brazil to investigate this particular incident in detail. He recounts the events of his investigation in his book Candiru: Life and Legend of the Bloodsucking Catfishes.[17] Spotte met Dr. Samad in person and interviewed him at his practice and home. Samad gave him photos, the original VHS tape of the cystoscopy procedure, and the actual fish's body preserved in formalin as his donation to the INPA.[18] Spotte and his colleague Paulo Petry took these materials and examined them at the INPA, comparing them with Samad's formal paper. While Spotte did not overtly express any conclusions as to the veracity of the incident, he did remark on several observations that were suspicious about the claims of the patient and/or Samad himself.
- According to Samad, the patient claimed 'the fish had darted out of the water, up the urine stream, and into his urethra.' While this is the most popularly known legendary trait of the candiru, according to Spotte it has been known conclusively to be a myth for more than a century, as it is impossible because of simple fluid physics.[19]
- The documentation and specimen provided indicate a fish that was 133.5 mm in length and had a head with a diameter of 11.5 mm. This would have required significant force to pry the urethra open to this extent. The candiru has no appendages or other apparatus that would have been necessary to accomplish this, and if it were leaping out of the water as the patient claimed, it would not have had sufficient leverage to force its way inside.[20]
- Samad's paper claims the fish must have been attracted by the urine.[15] This belief about the fish has been held for centuries, but was discredited in 2001.[9] While this was merely speculation on Samad's part based on the prevailing scientific knowledge at the time, it somewhat erodes the patient's story by eliminating the motivation for the fish to have attacked him in the first place.
- Samad claimed the fish had 'chewed' its way through the ventral wall of the urethra into the patient's scrotum. Spotte notes that the candiru does not possess the right teeth or strong enough dentition to have been capable of this.[21]
- Samad claimed he had to snip the candiru's grasping spikes off in order to extract it, yet the specimen provided had all its spikes intact.[20]
- The cystoscopy video depicts traveling into a tubular space (presumed to be the patient's urethra) containing the fish's carcass and then pulling it out backwards through the urethral opening,[18] something that would have been almost impossible with the fish's spikes intact.[22]
When subsequently interviewed, Spotte stated that even if a person were to urinate while 'submerged in a stream where candiru live', the odds of that person being attacked by candiru are '(a)bout the same as being struck by lightning while simultaneously being eaten by a shark.'[23]
References
Modern cases
To date, there is only one documented case of a candiru entering a human urethra, which took place in Itacoatiara, Brazil, in 1997.[14][15] In this incident, the victim (a 23-year-old man known only as 'F.B.C.') claimed a candiru 'jumped' from the water into his urethra as he urinated while thigh-deep in a river.[16] After traveling to Manaus on October 28, 1997, the victim underwent a two-hour urological surgery by Dr. Anoar Samad to remove the fish from his body.[15]
In 1999, American marine biologist Stephen Spotte traveled to Brazil to investigate this particular incident in detail. He recounts the events of his investigation in his book Candiru: Life and Legend of the Bloodsucking Catfishes.[17] Spotte met Dr. Samad in person and interviewed him at his practice and home. Samad gave him photos, the original VHS tape of the cystoscopy procedure, and the actual fish's body preserved in formalin as his donation to the INPA.[18] Spotte and his colleague Paulo Petry took these materials and examined them at the INPA, comparing them with Samad's formal paper. While Spotte did not overtly express any conclusions as to the veracity of the incident, he did remark on several observations that were suspicious about the claims of the patient and/or Samad himself.
- According to Samad, the patient claimed 'the fish had darted out of the water, up the urine stream, and into his urethra.' While this is the most popularly known legendary trait of the candiru, according to Spotte it has been known conclusively to be a myth for more than a century, as it is impossible because of simple fluid physics.[19]
- The documentation and specimen provided indicate a fish that was 133.5 mm in length and had a head with a diameter of 11.5 mm. This would have required significant force to pry the urethra open to this extent. The candiru has no appendages or other apparatus that would have been necessary to accomplish this, and if it were leaping out of the water as the patient claimed, it would not have had sufficient leverage to force its way inside.[20]
- Samad's paper claims the fish must have been attracted by the urine.[15] This belief about the fish has been held for centuries, but was discredited in 2001.[9] While this was merely speculation on Samad's part based on the prevailing scientific knowledge at the time, it somewhat erodes the patient's story by eliminating the motivation for the fish to have attacked him in the first place.
- Samad claimed the fish had 'chewed' its way through the ventral wall of the urethra into the patient's scrotum. Spotte notes that the candiru does not possess the right teeth or strong enough dentition to have been capable of this.[21]
- Samad claimed he had to snip the candiru's grasping spikes off in order to extract it, yet the specimen provided had all its spikes intact.[20]
- The cystoscopy video depicts traveling into a tubular space (presumed to be the patient's urethra) containing the fish's carcass and then pulling it out backwards through the urethral opening,[18] something that would have been almost impossible with the fish's spikes intact.[22]
When subsequently interviewed, Spotte stated that even if a person were to urinate while 'submerged in a stream where candiru live', the odds of that person being attacked by candiru are '(a)bout the same as being struck by lightning while simultaneously being eaten by a shark.'[23]
References
- ^Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2007). 'Vandellia cirrhosa' in FishBase. July 2007 version.
- ^Breault, J.L. (1991). 'Candiru: Amazonian parasitic catfish'. Journal of Wilderness Medicine. 2 (4): 304–312. doi:10.1580/0953-9859-2.4.304. Archived from the original on 2007-08-12.
- ^de Carvalho, Marcelo R. (2003). 'Analyse D'Ouvrage'(PDF). Cybium. 27 (2): 82. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
- ^DoNascimiento, Carlos; Provenzano, Francisco (2006). 'The Genus Henonemus (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae) with a Description of a New Species from Venezuela'. Copeia. 2006 (2): 198–205. doi:10.1643/0045-8511(2006)6[198:TGHSTW]2.0.CO;2.
- ^Ricciuti, Edward R.; Bird, Jonathan (2003). Killers of the Seas: The Dangerous Creatures That Threaten Man in an Alien Environment. The Lyons Press. ISBN978-1-58574-869-3.
- ^Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2017). Species of Vandellia in FishBase. May 2017 version.
- ^Piper, Ross (2007), Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals, Greenwood Press, ISBN978-0-313-33922-6.
- ^von Martius, C. F. P. 1829.Preface, p. viii, of van Spix, J. B., and Agassiz, L. Selecta Genera et Species Piscium ouos in Itinere ocr Brnsiliam annis 1817-20 Collcgit ... Dr. J. B. de Spix, etc. Monachii, 1829.
- ^ abSpotte, Stephen; Petry, Paulo; Zuanon, Jansen A.S. (2001). 'Experiments on the feeding behavior of the hematophagous candiru'. Environmental Biology of Fishes. 60 (4): 459–464. doi:10.1023/A:1011081027565.
- ^CASTELNAU, FRANCIS DE. 1855. Expedition dans les Partics Cent&es de I'AmPrique du Sud, 1843 a 1847. Animaux Nouveaux ou Rares-Zoology. Paris, 3: 50, p1. 24, fig. 4.
- ^ abcGudger, E.W. (January 1930). 'On the alleged penetration of the human urethra by an Amazonian catfish called candiru with a review of the allied habits of other members of the family pygidiidae'. The American Journal of Surgery (Print). Elsevier Inc. 8 (1): 170–188. doi:10.1016/S0002-9610(30)90912-9. ISSN0002-9610.
- ^BWLENGER, G. A. 1898a. Exhibition of specimens, and remarks upon the habits of the siluroid fish, Vandellia cirrhosu. Proc. Zool. Sot. London [1897], p. 90 I.
- ^Le Cointe, Paul. 1922. L'Amazonie Bresilienne: Le Pays; Ses Inhabitants, scs Ressources. Notes et Statistiques jusqu'en 1920. Paris, II: 365.
- ^Spotte 2002, p. 211
- ^ abc'this was the only documented evidence of an accident involving humans.' Anoar Samad, 'Candiru inside the urethra'. Google translation from Portuguese, with pictures.
- ^'Can the candiru fish swim upstream into your urethra (revisited)?'. The Straight Dope. 7 September 2001.
- ^Spotte 2002
- ^ abSpotte 2002, p. 217
- ^Spotte 2002, p. 216
- ^ abSpotte 2002, p. 218
- ^Spotte 2002, p. 214
- ^Spotte 2002, p. 215
- ^Dark Banquet: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood-Feeding Creatures (via Google Books), by Bill Schutt, published by Random House, 2008
Sources
- Spotte, Stephen (2002). Candiru : life and legend of the bloodsucking catfishes. Berkeley, Calif.: Creative Arts Book Co. ISBN0-88739-469-8.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vandellia cirrhosa. |
- Data related to Trichomycteridae at Wikispecies
Native speakers near the Amazon filled with fear and astonishment of the real monsters - incredible leviathans so huge that the legendary anaconda is small in comparison.
The native snakes commit quietly around the village fires and the safety of their homes, is 40 - sometimes 50 - feet long. The heads of these giant creatures are said to reach 2 meters wide. They can bring down prey by spitting explosive jets, down trees in its path and change the course of the tributaries of small rivers when crossed. Natives call these monstrous serpents Yacumama
A monster that creeps
The world is full of secrets. Many do not give up easily. Empires have arisen and fallen amid the mysteries left unresolved enigmas through the centuries. As far back as the Aztec legends have spoken about the monstrous snakes. The Aztecs of Mexico made him one of the most powerful gods Quetzalcoatl .
Ancestral painting portraying Quetzalcoatl tasting of a human. |
In the centuries that followed the indigenous peoples of the Amazon often spoke of Yacumama, water snake. Herpetologists Europeans and Americans ignored the gossip taking it as myths or as references to large aquatic boa, the anaconda. According to Indigenous other giant snakes also inhabit the shadowy realm of the Amazon: the Sachamama and Minhocão, snakes some Amazonian natives say they can alter the earth as they pass through it.
Amazon River: Native carries a 'small' anaconda. |
Despite the belief herpetologists, not indigenous were talking of the great anaconda by different names. they talked about real monsters, leviathans so great that the anaconda is small in comparison. The natives sometimes speak of the great serpent with fear and trembling, saying that measures approximately 40 meters sometimes reaching 50 meters long. The heads of these giant creatures are said to reach 2 meters wide. They can bring down their prey with explosive jets, knocking down trees in its path and changing the course of smaller tributaries.
Seeking the colossus
During the year 1906 the famous commander explorer Percy H. Fawcett claimed to have found a giant anaconda while traveling through the Amazon River. He shot the creature and watch as agonized. He recalled: .. 'walked ashore and approached the reptile with caution I was immobile, but shivers kept running up and down the body like puffs of wind on a hill mountain As was be measured, length 14 meters out of the water and lay 5m at her, making a total length of 19 meters ... so large specimens as this may not be common, but the trails in the swamps reach a width of 2 meters and support the statements of Indians and rubber pickers that the anaconda sometimes reaches an incredible size, completely eclipsing the shot for me. Brazilian borders Commission told me of one killed in the Paraguay river more than 24 meters long '
Fawcett was entertained with tales of giant anacondas that said average 20 meters or more. (Picture based in part on a photograph published in the newspaper of Pernambuco, January 24, 1948.) |
However, they were far from convinced academic professionals and herpetologists. The monstrous snakes just seemed to be something obviously crazy. As the dispute continued for another century until two brothers, Mike and Greg Warner, mounted an expedition in the jungles of the Amazon looking for evidence of monstrous snakes. The expedition was inconclusive, although recorded trails giant snake and took testimonies of natives who claimed to have seen the Yacumama.
Mike Warner, Hunter Yacumama. |
Mike Warner spoke to hundreds of indigenous and workers who had encounters with Yacumama. He investigated thousands more. Notes that certain native tribes of both African and Native near the Amazon River in South America describes an enormous snake 'takes water with it.' Although the first expedition could not find the elusive Yacumama, the brothers were undeterred. After two new fundraising they mounted another expedition to the Amazon.
Snake capturing antelope near the Amazon River. The Yacumama is much larger in size. |
In this video made by Warner shows a path of downed trees of great height, image Yacumama possibly along a tributary of the Amazon River . [ Watch Video Here ] |
A snake photographed in Brazil with a length of 35 meters, 75 cm wide and 4 tons. |
Most of the witnesses who have sighted one Yacumama have not spent much time studying the creature -. Been generally passed over it by accident and then gave swing and ran for his life Warner's research led him to discover that seeks Yacumama prey near the regions where two rivers merge into one, called 'confluence'. Determined that the areas will provide the colossal predators a steady supply of food. He hypothesizes that this capacity may have one or more of the following purposes:
1. The stunning prey or tear down trees in its path. The Yacumama allegedly swallows water and throws his prey like a water cannon.
2. while 'takes water with it' you may use this water pressure to sustain its skeletal structure, while moving through the jungle . .
Snake River Rafting Photos
3 You can also use water as an instrument of burrow - like a worm does on the ground, therefore, has some similarity to a Gymnophiona features. The Indians of the Peruvian Amazon witness a loud noise that can be heard when the Yacumama this game during the rainy season.Snake River Photo Coupon Code
All sightings of these giant snakes have similar descriptions. Warner believes that the snakes that the natives call the Sachamama - mother earth - are the same as the Yacumama snakes. Have grown so large that they have become virtually immobile and therefore no longer feed on prey caught in the water. He extrapolates this hypothesis: 'At this point we can release pheromones to attract snakes of the same species and so eat them This process can even restrict the population of this species in a given area..'